How to emulate context menu key when there's none on keyboard?

Imagine a keyboard that lacks Win key. That's easy to emulate - you just press CtrlEsc. However, on the keyboard I have now, there's no "right mouse" key (or "context menu" key or whatever it might be called - it's usually placed close to AltGr and bears the sign of three horizontal bars or something).

I'm very used to pressing that key and not having it around slows me down (not to mention the annoyance aspect). How can I emulate it on this limited keyboard?

Konrad Viltersten

Posted 2015-02-08T19:42:50.153

Reputation: 1 075

2Do you have any keys on the keyboard you don't often use? – nhinkle – 2015-02-08T19:44:29.703

honestly, you would be the only person I have ever seen use that key... – Keltari – 2015-02-08T20:01:41.277

1Why the downvote?! – Konrad Viltersten – 2015-02-09T07:58:40.427

2@Keltari I beg to differ. When I'm in a window with a bunch of files, for instance, and mark one by pressing e.g. "a", it's very quick to press the key in question and then "s" to send the file to someone. I know a lot of people using it (none of whom is heavy on the rodent usage). – Konrad Viltersten – 2015-02-09T08:00:51.767

@nhinkle Sadly, no. It's this tiny, minimalistic and circumcised keyboard from Surface... – Konrad Viltersten – 2015-02-09T08:01:48.967

Answers

I think you're looking for Shift + F10.

EDIT: Some smaller keyboards require you to use the Fn key in combination with F1 - F12 to use them. Most of the time you can 'function lock' with Fn + CapsLock or change the default behavior of the F keys in the BIOS.

Catatonic27

Posted 2015-02-08T19:42:50.153

Reputation: 611

@ṧнʊß It works for me both on my laptop keyboard and the attached usb wireless keyboard. – DavidPostill – 2015-02-08T20:59:13.507

1@ṧнʊß: I use it all the time on keyboards that don't have menu keys...Although it doesn't work in EVERY context. For example, I can open a context menu on a webpage with the menu key or right-clicking, but not with Shift+F10. It works almost everywhere. Works within Windows Explorer. EDIT: Your F10 key might only work if you have your Fn key depressed depending on your laptop keyboard configuration. – Catatonic27 – 2015-02-08T21:04:41.547

Sorry forgot about 'fn'. +1 for the simple solution – ᔕᖺᘎᕊ – 2015-02-09T07:09:53.293

2@ṧнʊß Actually, the remark about Fn-key is important, because on the smallish keyboards, they're often in secondary use. I've activated them as primary key by CapsLocking them but I'll edit the reply to improve it from good to great. – Konrad Viltersten – 2015-02-09T08:04:45.930

Thanks for this, I was at a loss when the new system came without any. – Oxwivi – 2016-08-28T09:16:45.810

The button you're referring to is called the 'Menu key' btw.

You can use AutoHotKey to remap the menu key to another key on your keyboard (even without having the key on your keyboard).

I detest the Caps Lock key, so I would use that instead:

Install AHK, and create a notepad file, ending with .ahk, containing:

CapsLock::AppsKey

This triggers the menu key (AppsKey) when the caps lock button is pressed.

If you don't want to use the Caps Lock key, see here for a list of keys AHK supports.

ᔕᖺᘎᕊ

Posted 2015-02-08T19:42:50.153

Reputation: 5 559

you fixed it. appskey is correct – Keltari – 2015-02-08T20:00:02.627

@Keltari Yeah - before, I had 'menu' in my head and typed that instead! – ᔕᖺᘎᕊ – 2015-02-08T20:00:45.357

I found using AutoHotKey with the following script seemed to work

<^>!m::AppsKey
return

mapping

AltGr + m

to the Context Menu / Apps Key / Menu Key

For some reason if I tried to use just the AltGr Key

<^>!

it didn't work, I needed to add another key and chose "m" as it's close and easy to hit in combo.

To have this mapping run automatically after a reboot :

win + R
type shell:common startup
Copy a shortcut to the AHK script and paste it in here
might say you can't and do you want it on desktop
If so say yes then cut and paste it from desktop to the startup folder

N.B. if other people use the machine and do NOT want the mapping, use

shell:startup

instead

MemeDeveloper

Posted 2015-02-08T19:42:50.153

Reputation: 101